10 Special Concerts

I am a music fan. I have been surrounded by music my whole life. I remember my Mom singing harmonies to Aerosmith tunes and Dad playing his accordion at various family events. I love listening to music, playing music, discussing music and sharing music. I also like going to concerts to see performers I really like. I must admit that my concert going days have declined recently but it is primarily a financial issue and not a lack of interest. Today I will be telling you about 10 really great shows I’ve been to. These concerts were remarkable to me for one reason or another. I don’t rank things as “best show ever” or “my favorite concert” so these shows are ones that have moved me. I have been to a lot of shows and most were very good but these 10 came to mind right away. I have listed them as close to chronologically as I can.



Boxcar Willie – Mid 1980’s
Boxcar Willie is a country music singer famous for train songs and the ability to mimic the sound of a train whistle vocally. He performed at the Shiawassee County Fair when we still lived in Michigan. I was very young but I remember there was a comedian/Ventriloquist who had a Crow Puppet that opened the show. I also remember getting Willies autograph along with the Comedian autograph. I still have that photo.



Megadeth- 1990
I wrote about this show in a previous entry “My First Time”. It was my first time going to a concert on my own and experiencing a Heavy Metal concert. It was galvanizing. Such a display of power and energy would influence and teenager but it was exactly what I didn’t know I needed!



Rush Limbaugh – Early 90’s
I can envision some of you with a head cocked curiously to one side pondering the inclusion of political spoken word show by one of the most famous and controversial talk show hosts listed among some of the other bands here. I had the opportunity to see Rush Limbaugh perform in Milwaukee in 1990 or 91. My Dad had listened to him on the radio for years and when he heard about the show asked if I wanted to go. I did and so we went. I remember seeing people there with leather jacket and confused faces wondering why the trio from Canada was attracting such an odd audience! Mr. Limbaugh made some very compelling statement regarding several popular hot topics at the time. He is a commanding presence and to this day I use him as a reference when it comes to public speaking ability.


B.B. King – Mid 1990’s
I remember when I first started playing guitar and realized that I really like blues music, my Dad came home from a business trip and gave me a B.B. King tape. He said” If you like blues, this is the real deal.” I took Guns ‘n Roses out of my tape deck and put in the cassette and pushed play. I have never regretted it. From the first notes of “Sweet Sixteen” I knew I would learn a lot from this man.
So you can imagine what an enormous surprise it was for me when my dear friend Denise surprised me with ticket to see him at the Riverside Theater. Our seats were near the very top row if I remember correctly but the show was spectacular. I remember feeling my eyes water while listening to some of the songs and realizing I’m in the same room with a legend. I had a grin from ear to ear after that show. There is no way I could ever repay her for allowing me the opportunity to witness one of the masters at work. For that and numerous other reasons I will be eternally grateful for her friendship.


Ozzfest – 1999
I have been to Ozzfest several times and have seen many famous bands and witnessed some of the early shows of bands that went on to become huge. . There were several bands playing this show that I checked out. Drain STH is an extremely underrated band that I got the chance to check out. It is an all female band out of Sweden, a country known for its eclectic metal scene. They put on a very solid show and put to rest the myth that metal is a men’s only club. Next I checked out Fear Factory and Slipknot. Fear Factory is an example of great heavy metal with a dash (he! he!) of speed. Slipknot, on the other hand, is a band difficult to label. With 9 members all in red jumpsuits and custom made horror masks playing ferocious metal music interspersed with elements of hip hop and rap, this band is an experience to be had, not to be described. Static X is one of my favorite bands. Their sound is a solid groove based metal with electronic overtones. Their performance at this Ozzfest has been my only chance to see them. I will, however, see them again. Switching gears sharply, Primus was on this bill to provide a sharp contrast to the metal scene at this show. I have been a fan of Primus since my buddy Scott introduced me to them back in high school. Les Claypool, the band’s lead… everything, is a bass player that defies description. Much like, yet completely opposite from, Slipknot, Primus should be experienced in order to form an opinion.

Anytime you get the opportunity to watch a performance from one of “The Big Four of Heavy Metal” you should take it. “The Big Four of Heavy Metal” consists of Metallica, Slayer, Anthrax, and Megadeth. I took the opportunity to watch Slayer show the rest of the bands a thing or two about thrash. I got chills. Rob Zombie took the stage right before the headliner and got the audience, which had been moshing all day, charged up with a stage show full of fire, robots, monsters and go-go dancers.

All of these bands were great, but, with the headlining band I scored another massive achievement on the “Concert Bucket List”. I saw Black Sabbath with the original four members; Ozzy Osbourne, Bill Ward, Tony Iommi, and Geezer Butler. These pioneers of Heavy Metal had recently reunited and toured. I am thrilled to have experienced the band that influenced some of my favorite music. I remember feeling dizzy with excitement as the first chords of their song “Black Sabbath” literally shook the cloths you were wearing. I got to see the guys who wrote the songs I’ve been listening to and jamming with for years, perform them. It was spiritual.


Alice Cooper – 2003
The master of shock rock exploded onto the stage at the Waukesha County Fair and I was there right in front. I found out Alice Cooper was playing the day of the show so I grabbed a couple of friends and we headed over there. As we were wandering around the fair, killing time, we ran into a good friend who told us his brother had been staking out a spot up front since early afternoon and that we should go let him know we were there. So we did. As a musician and a person who likes watching the performance as well as hearing the music, I don’t sing along at concerts. However… the pure theatricality of Alice’s show swept me up and I sang along with every song I know as well did most of the audience. It was magic, dark magic ;) but magic none the less.


Ozzfest – 2005
Ozzfest makes another appearance on this list due primarily to the sheer abundance of memorable bands I saw. I went to this concert courtesy of my good friend Scott Pagac. He gave the guys who stood up in his wedding ticket to this show. WOW. One of the first bands I saw that day was a group called Wicked Wisdom fronted by a young lady named Jada Pinkett Smith. Yup, this petite little actress tore on stage and proceeded to tear that place apart. It was like seeing a pissed off little female Iggy Pop tear-assing across the stage. Awesome! A couple of bands later a group of guys comes on stage dressed to the nines in “metal gear” and starts grinding on a decent speed metal groove when all of a sudden the lead singer/guitarist guy runs out. My first thought was, “who does this pretty boy think he is?’. It was followed buy my second thought, “Holy shit! That looks just like my friend Joe!” The “pretty boy” proceeds to unleash lyrics in a metal yell the likes of which I had never heard before. The band was called Trivium, and I bought their CD the next day. Surprise number three was seeing a band called Arch Enemy which mixed the yelling, speeding fury of Trivium with the Wicked Wisdom surprise of yet another female lead singer and adds a dash of intimidation in the fact this lead singer might very well be of Viking ancestry and the burning blue eyes and flying blond hair made even the machoest of men in the mosh pit pause and reconsider their position of dominance. All of these bands were, by the way, on the second stage which featured Rob Zombie as the headliner for this stage. Rob’s show was as full of energy as it usually is and the audience was well entertained.

This alone would have been a great show, however, over on the main stage, Ozzfest concert goers were treated to an enormous treat as the two bands that finished up the evening were none other than Iron Maiden and Black Sabbath. The gods of Metal were smiling upon the earth when this line up was put together. I don’t have the word to express the immensity of seeing these two bands on the same night. Iron Maiden, with front man/pilot Bruce Dickinson, fulfilled every expectation I have of the monumental bands performance. Of course no Maiden show would be complete without a visit from the bands mascot “Eddie” a 12 foot puppet operated by a man inside the costume. It was great. Black Sabbath finished the day off and played a great show considering each member was over 65 years of age at this show. All in all, it was a show to remember.


Rush – 2005
My good friend and band mate, Scott had been pestering me since we met to see Rush (the three chaps from Canada, not the talk show host mentioned earlier) perform live. Rush is one of Scott's primary influences on bass and in his song writing. I agreed to see their show at The Marcus Amphitheater because it was billed as “An Evening of Rush.” They were to play a two set show. Cool. Scott, his wife Kristi, and I got some great tickets somewhere in the 3rd or 4th row off to the right. The show happened to be the same night “Festa Italiana” was happening at The Summerfest grounds so we walked around that for a while. We decided it was time we head toward our seats and as we were making our way there, Kristi’s cell phone rang. She answered it and soon began jumping and shrieking with delight. While we were roaming the grounds, Kristi stopped to enter a contest to win tickets front row center. Yup..She won. Being the awesome people Scott and Kristi are they found a couple of people sitting in the grass seats and gave them their tickets up front. We all headed down to our seats and we worked out that Scott and Kristi would watch the first half of the show front row and the second half I would go up front row with Scott. The show was great. The band played a bunch of the hits and a bunch of the newer stuff. The drum solo cemented Neil Peart in the top three drumming slots in my mind. And, again, seeing a band with a career spanning 36 years (With The Same Line Up) that influenced many of today’s artist is something I am proud to talk about.


Les Paul – June 21 2008
I told the story of this concert in a previous entry “A Moment of Sound.” It was an extremely important show. There isn’t much I can say about this show that I didn’t mention in the previous entry. Watching the man play is spell binding. A person can see a pattern though. Women have played an essential part in allowing me to experience some landmark concerts and I don’t know what I did to deserve these opportunities but I can never repay the favor.


Henry Rollins – April 8 2010
I have seen Henry Rollins several times over the last decade. For those of you who are unaware, Henry Rollins is a multi-faceted Entertainer/artist. He got his start as the lead singer for a punk band called Black Flag. He has since, formed and toured with his own group (Rollins Band), written several books, started a publishing company, acted in a variety of movies and TV shows (Sons of Anarchy season 2, Heat, Wrong Turn 2), and tours as a spoken word artist among other things. His spoken word shows are more of a monologue than performance art where he speaks about current events as well as sharing stories of recording with William Shatner and trying to out perform Iggy Pop. I always leave his shows with a head full of things to think about and this latest show was a particularly good one. His material spanned many topic of conversation that had the audience cheering wildly in agreement and a few minutes later roaring with laughter. It was a great show. It was also a testimony to this mans drive, focus, and ability because he spoke nonstop for three hours without a single sip of water or pause for breath.


In conclusion I would invite all of you to look into the artists I have listed. In each entry I have included links to help you search them out and give you examples that help illustrate my points. There is foul language, controversial subject matter, and a wide swatch of performance. Please feel free to share your stories in the comment section below.

Small acting debut in a great local short film!!

I had the opportunity to audition and play a character in a local short film written and directed by a couple of friends of mine; Ben Riggs and Aaron Andries. The film is called “Max Highwater” and it’s a comedy about a young man in love…and looking for his pants.

This is a wonderfully fun little 10 minute film which I’m sure you will enjoy. Please check it out by clicking HERE. If you haunt the social networking world of Facebook, I urge you to “become a fan” of “Fight! Lock! Growl! Productions” who is the films production company.

Mind over Matter

In horror movies, an effective tool is used to make the audience jump. This is to have the main antagonist appear in an object where, just seconds ago, they were not. A common set up would include a person in front of a medicine cabinet in the bathroom. You see them alone in the room, they open the cabinet to get something, and when they close the cabinet again you see the villain right behind them. There is usually a hard, loud jangle of music which provokes hysterical screams and bowel loosening from the audience. Another popular version of this tactic involves a person innocently looking out the window for danger, scornfully berating their companions for their cowardice, turning back to the window as a flash of lightening illuminates the zombie seconds before it crashes through the window and feasts on the overly confident jerk’s brains. This technique has done wonders for the horror movie industry. However, there have been some side effects. Most notably, to me at least, a couple of years ago while trying to work in my parent’s basement.

As some of you may know, over the years, my parents have graciously allowed me to build a small recording studio in their basement. It is divided up into two rooms. There is the sound room, where the live instruments are played while recording. And the control room where the recording equipment is. The rooms are separated by a wall to help control the sound. In this wall, I installed a window so I can communicate with the musicians performing. I will often spend hours down there writing, recording, or editing songs. A couple of years ago I was attempting to work on an idea that had formed for a song. My parents were out of town at the time, visiting family in Michigan. I had recently watched a brilliant independent movie entitled “28 Days Later” a couple of night previously. This is a different take on the classic “zombie” movie. In this film we join the main character as he regains consciousness after a bicycle accident to find that society has fallen to a virus that has turned nearly everyone in raging, mindlessly violent, blood thirsty animals. There is a particularly spectacular example of the technique mentioned above used in one of the scenes.

So there I was, all alone in the basement of an older house that is surrounded by corn fields; little creaks and groans from the house settling after the sun has gone down. I have, over the years, worked to develop my imagination so that I might write interesting songs and stories or create unusual pieces of art in one form or another. There are, on the other hand, some draw backs to this. When you find yourself all alone in the basement of an older house that is surrounded by cornfields and has a propensity to creak and groan, you may not have the control over your imagination you might have hoped for. I know I didn’t. I sat in the control room; bent over my guitar, trying desperately to work on a song that I knew was going to turn out pretty cool if I could just focus on it. But there was going to be no focus. How could I concentrate on this song when I – just – knew if I looked up, there would be a zombie staring at me through the sound room window? I could not do it. Every creak was the foot step of impending doom heading down the stairs toward me and every groan was the last thing I heard before the brains would be chewed from my skull.

I finally succumbed. I put down my guitar, shut off my computer, and headed for the door. I was pretty cool walking across the basement but as I mounted the steps my pace increased until I blasted out the garage door and practically dove through the window into the front seat of my car. Spraying gravel, I tore away from the house I grew up in with much reproach for my lack of intestinal fortitude. As I was careening out onto the main road my cell phone rang and after a small amount of incontinence, I answered. It turned out to be a good friend of mine asking if I would be interested in; YES! YES! YES! I answered before he finished. The last thing I wanted was to be alone at that moment He said some friends were meeting at a local bar for some drinks. I beat them all there.

The Event

I am notoriously terrible at renewing my plates on time because I think it is crap that they demand money every year to renew the registration on a vehicle I registered the year before and the year before that! I believe it is further crap that the registration date does not adjust itself to the time you registered. I’ve had people try to justify it to me but they fail on all accounts. It is crap and that is all there is about it.

I will, however obscenely ludicrous it is, recognize that this is the current law and that the events that transpired are entirely my fault. Had I followed the law and paid them their “screw off fee” none of the following would have happened. I am entirely to blame. That said, please sit back and enjoy a section of my life that could be the basis for a sitcom.

Last week I left work during my lunch break in order to get some food at a local gas station. As I was getting out of my car I heard a voice over a loud speaker say “Driver, Please remain in your vehicle!” Startled, I looked around and discovered that parked next to me was a pale blue dodge charger with flashing light barely noticeable on the dash. I looked into the car and into the face of a state trooper who was staring back at me. I smiled and closed my door and assumed the standard “Pulled over Position”- Window down, engine off, radio off, hands on the steering wheel. He gets out of the car and comes over to my door and informs me that the reason he is pulling me over is because my plates are expired. I grumble to myself about my forgetfulness and he asked for my license. I inform him it is in my back pocket and that I am reaching for it so he does not become alarmed or feel threatened. I hand it to him and he hands it back to me stating that I had, in fact, handed him my visa card. I am immediately flustered and attempt to explain that it was not my intention at all to hand that to him and that I wasn’t trying to suggest anything by it. He held his hand up and I could just make out a shadow of a smile on his face as I hurriedly hand him, after checking it three times, my license.

He takes the license and says “If you have business inside, you can go in and attend to it.” I stared at him blankly. I cleverly responded “Really?” He said “I assume you are on your lunch break, so if you need to get something in there, go and get it. I should be done with my paperwork by the time you come back.” So I went inside. The guy behind the counter asked if everything was OK. I stated calmly that I was getting a ticket but the cop said I could get what I needed while he wrote things out. The clerk blinked and I said “I know! Right?” He just shook his head.

So I went back got one of the salads that have for sale, grabbed a drink from the cooler, paid for my items and went back to my car. I then presented myself with the following problem. How do I get in my car without him thinking I’m going to start up my car and race out of the parking lot to commit further heinous crimes like ripping the tags off mattresses or using an aerosol spray can on a manner other that which it was intended. I decided I would walk exaggeratedly to my car so he would be sure to see that I was letting him know I was returning to my car and as I got into my vehicle I quickly placed my items on the floor and returned my hands to the steering wheel.

I couple of minutes later he returned with a 10 day warning instead of a ticket. He told me to renew the plates and then have an officer sign off on the paper he gave me. He also asked me if my seatbelt was in working order. I replied that it was and he said to be sure to put it on before I leave because I wasn’t wearing it when I got there. DAMN! DAMN! DAMN! I have made it a habit to wear my seatbelt at work because it is a CDL regulation, but I must have forgotten to put it on while rushing out to get lunch. I put my seatbelt on and the officer tells me to have a nice day and leaves. WOW! He could have given me two expensive tickets but he didn’t! This sounds like the end of the story, but wait! There is more!

The next day on my lunch break I head over the Vehicle Emissions Test site to get tested and renew my plates. As I pull up I see the “Estimated Wait Time” clock set at 40 minutes. I only have a 30 minute lunch but I pull in to asses the line and it is indeed back up and around the curve so I head back to work. I work from 8:30 am to 7 pm Monday through Thursday and am off on Fridays but I wanted to get this taken care of. So I told my supervisor that I was coming in late on Wednesday because I wanted to get this registration thing taken care of and there were a couple of other chores I wanted to handle before Friday. So Wednesday I get up, take care of my other chores and head over toy the Vehicle Emissions Test site in Waukesha to find that it is closed on Wednesdays!! DAMN! DAMN! DAMN! The facilities hours are plainly posted on the sign as you enter the driveway but who the hell thought they’d be closed in the middle of the week! Again, my fault, I didn’t check the hours before I made the plans. So I drive, deflated, in to work.

The next day, Thursday, off I go again on my lunch break to try to take care of an issue I could have handled at my leisure a couple of months earlier. As I pull up to the Vehicle Emissions Test site, I see the “Estimated Wait Time” clock isn’t even registering recognizable numbers. I pull in to the lot to discover even more cars in line than there was on Tuesday! There is nothing for it. I go back to work (amongst the chuckles of my co-workers who have been following this saga) completely defeated and resigned to resolving this issue on Friday.

Friday morning I get up and head right over the Vehicle Emissions Test site. I see the “Estimated Wait Time” clock set at 28 minutes so I get in line. I finally make my way in to one of the garage bays and the young lady asks for my renewal for. I tell her that I don’t have a renewal for and that I was pulled over by a cop due to my lack of handling a simply yearly task everyone else manages to complete. She says she can’t test my car with out the form and that I have to pull around go inside, give the lady my license plate number, and she will print out the form I need. I thank her for the direction and pull out of the bay, drive around to the parking lot and go inside noticing that the line of cars is nearly as long as it was on Thursday. I go inside, get in line between a confused old man and a couple of snarky remarking college kids and wait for my turn. When I get up to the window, I give the lady behind the glass, who looks old enough to have given Moses swimming lessons, my license plate number. She punches the numbers into her computer with a palpable sense of disdain for time wasting simpletons like myself and after a few minutes of scowling at the screen stated that I owe her the designated amount of money for plate renewal. I ask her about the testing form and she tells me there isn’t testing required this year for my vehicle. I breathe slowly. She repeats the demand for the payment and adds that it must be either cash or check and that they do not accept plastic. I have a grand total of $2.56 in cash on me. I do, however, have my checkbook with me in my car. So, I go out to my car, get my checkbook, come back inside, get in line between a person with a very small grasp on the English language and a middle aged female mouth breather. As I am waiting in line, I fill out my check so I can present it to the lady behind the glass, get my sticker and go. Soon I find myself kneeling behind my car, cleaning off the plate and applying my shiny new sticker. A quick stop at the cop shop and I am a responsible driver once again!

Or at least until the next time my plates expire!

Introducing Abretok Industries

I am pleased to announce the assembly of several small entities under one heading, Abretok Industries. Rainbird Studios, Rainbird Photograbers Inc, and Abretok Arts are joining together under the heading Abretok Industries.

This idea actually started in the garage with my Dad many years ago. When we would build something or finish working on something together Dad would say, “Another fine job by Abretok Industries”, Abretok being out last name spelled backwards. I have used this idea to identify many aspects of my life so it seemed logical that I use it as a heading for my various small enterprises. In the sidebar to your right you will find various links. I will post links to the other sited related to Abretok Industries.

Rainbird Studios is the name of the recording studio where I record Demo’s and albums for musicians on an extremely tight budget. It started as my parents’ basement and still geographically is. My parents, Pete and Georgia Koterba, have been wonderfully supportive in all of my endeavors throughout my life. They have also been extremely tolerant of the racket produced by those endeavors. They are great people! I have a MySpace page set up for the studio to show some of the work done there.

Rainbird Photograbers is an extension of Rainbird Studio’s and is where you can view my attempts at capturing imagery with a camera. It will also be the place to view Items I have for sale. I have recently started hand making bracelets, key fobs and zipper pulls out of parachute cord. In addition to these items, there will be various examples of art on display for purchase. I was recently hired to sculpt scrap metal bonsai trees for a friends wedding. I will post pictures of these after the special day. I enjoyed welding at work when I had the opportunity and the prospects of using metal as a medium for art is interesting and exciting to me. Anyone interested in purchasing items from me can email me at koterba13@gmail.com

Fo those of you that are new to this site, Abretokia will be the place for news and updates regarding all of my outlets which includes a book I’ve started writing. I will also, from time to time, post stories meant purely for entertainment. I already have a few of them up. Some of these stories are fiction, some are real life experiences. I generally try to avoid anything strongly political but occasionally current events so strongly occupy my brain that it will come out in a post. Mostly, I want to inform you of things in my not so important life and hopefully make you smile if not laugh out loud.

I look forward to hearing from you all. Please feel free to comment at will but, be sure to check out my post entitled “To warn or not to warn”.

Sincerely,
Chris koterba